iMovie in the Classroom

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been experimenting with both iPhoto and iMovie and their value in the classroom. I have created two projects as a result, one a short movie introducing the Acropolis and one a short slide presentation on the same subject. Although both are highly similar pieces, I now have the choice of using either in my lessons. I created each project with the third grade SOL for ancient civilizations in mind. Both could work as introductory hooks to the unit on ancient Greek culture and architecture. I would probably follow up the movie with a look at how some of the temples were constructed and the parts associated with the columns, statues, engravings, etc.

After completing the assignment I wanted to upload both to YouTube to both preserve and share my work in an easy and convenient location. However, during the upload process I was notified with a copyright violation on the music I had included in my projects. The song that plays in the background of both slide show and movie is Tom Petty's "It's Good to be King" off of his album Wildflowers. As a result, my videos uploaded but without the music so they play silently. I found this to be a disappointment in my sharing capabilities, but also interesting. Teachers are constantly looking for resources to enhance the classroom experience with anything from lesson plans, music, videos, pictures, books or even recipes. The internet makes this hunting process excessively easy and amongst so much information the issues of plagiarism are often neglected. Although the Tom Petty song I included in my movie was originally from a purchased CD, it still violated his copyright when I tried to incorporate the song in a public project without proper permission.

Even if we can get away with using collected material for private projects (such as a personal iMovie presentation), we still need to recognize source citation when attempting to share those projects on a public level (such as YouTube or even this blog). I could directly relate the whole process of my music issue with recent discussions on the internet and how much we can get away with in terms of taking information and using it as our own.

An Unreal Connection

After watching the ethnography, An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube, by Michael Weschin a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University in class today, I both shocked and awed by the seemingly incomprehensible power of the internet. Sometimes I sit thinking about the computer and the way it connects the rest of humanity through various means of the internet and it scares me. My brain can't understand those types of numbers, over "68,555 views" might as well be a scribble on the side of the video.

I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Weschin's philosophy though, the world is so small. We can use the internet to do amazing things in terms of creating communities. I think it's interesting the types of online communities that are available. I can only hope to tap into some of the educational communities available online, I'm sure there are many. I think the hardest part is wading through all the information to find something that's really useful and relevant. There's an almost infinite amount of information available online through the internet and it seems loosely organized. But then, how can you organize that sort of mass? The internet is definitely an integral part of my daily life both professional and personal. I can only imagine the way it will progress the technology becomes even more sophisticated.

Keep the Creativity

Amongst so much pressure from No Child Left Behind many schools and teachers have cut time students spend in art and music to give more to reading and math. The trick now is to integrate art education and general creativity back into the classroom through the foundations of other subjects. I think of myself as a highly creative thinker and I find projects that challenge my creative thought to be exciting and worthwhile no matter the subject. For example, I absolutely hated math as an elementary student (still do), I dreaded my homework and the daily lectures. Yet, I can still remember the projects I did enjoy: drawing a scenes with various geometric shapes, building the strongest bridge possible out of toothpicks and glue (then testing it's strength with weights), and even drawing out tessellation patterns. All of these projects combine math skills with creative thinking and visual art skills almost flawlessly. It's so easy to integrate just a few projects, I feel like teachers just need to look around.

Reading too can be easily incorporated to an artistically minded education. Presenting the literature as an art form helps. Looking at plays, poetry, screenplays and song lyrics all reinforce the creative aspects of writing and reading. Even having children draw out a pivotal scene from a recent story can help them see the words from a new perspective. Such practices can help improve comprehension and some word recognition.

Here is an interesting blog about elementary art I was browsing. I enjoyed the blog's extensive list of alternative art education blogs and websites.

Cellphones in Class?

About a month ago the New York Times ran an article about cellphones/smartphones and their relative value in the classroom. Currently, it seems like most teachers and administrators see cellphones as major distractions for their students with no place in the classroom. However, as technology becomes more sophisticated and students more and more dependent on them, their potential aid in the classroom should not be downplayed. This particular article discusses the cellphone industry's interest in breaking into the educational market by promoting cellphones as cheaper versions of laptops. I think this is a valid case for study - many cellphones are available to access the internet and provide endless amounts of information in a highly portable manner.

I can see the use cellphones may provide depending on the model - easy access to internet, a small digital camera (students can take pictures for assignments and projects), simple video recording, classroom networking (keep in touch for group work), etc. From a budgeting standpoint this may be a great option for schools as cellphones are a relatively inexpensive appliance that can be bought in bulk. I could see such a plan encouraged at poor schools that may not be able to afford enough computers or updated technologies to support students. Still, I have some reservations about the use of cellphones in the class. Would the school need to supply the same type of phone to every student to make sure every student has the same programs? There would definitely need to be some training sessions made available to teachers to discuss ideas for class use of the phones. I could still see the cellphones as being a huge distraction for kids - however, they do not provide anymore distraction than a personal laptop or even an iPod. Although I don't think schools will warm up to the idea of classroom cellphones anytime soon, I would be interested in exploring their options and ways to create lessons using them. I think they could be a welcome alternative to computers.

Podcast for Third Grade Geometry

For the podcasting project in my Instructional Technology class I chose to create a podcast centered on an introductory geometry lesson for third grade. In VA the third grade SOL 3.18 requires students to be able to recognize two dimensional and three dimensional figures as well as identify characteristics such as number of faces, edges and vertices for each figure. The podcast provides a basic lecture supplemented by photos to get kids thinking about ways to recognize geometric shapes.

The podcast could be used as a supplementary lesson to provide added help for kids or an introduction to the geometry unit. After listening to the podcast I would have kids write down the characteristics of each shape in some sort of graphic organizer and maybe have them conduct a scavenger hunt to find real world examples of all the shapes. This podcast could even be converted into a project that kids create. They could be split into groups and assigned one of the geometric shapes. Then they could create a podcast for the rest of the class explaining their particular 3D or 2D shape, its characteristics and providing pictures of real world examples. Now the simple intro lecture has transformed to an interactive class project combining, math skills and technology skills with writing and presenting skills.

You can check out the podcast here.